The team is growing

Pallitsch, Diessl and Fuchs: new trio at the Olympics!

Raphael Pallitsch(Bild: amriphoto.com)

Austria's athletics will be represented at the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 to August 11) with at least seven instead of four athletes!

In addition to Lukas Weißhaidinger (discus), Susanne Gogl-Walli (400 m), Julia Mayer (marathon) and Victoria Hudson (javelin), who had fulfilled the direct limits, a trio has already qualified via the "Road to Paris": Markus Fuchs (100 m), Raphael Pallitsch (1500 m) and Enzo Diessl (110 m hurdles). Hurdles sprinter Karin Strametz and heptathlete Verena Mayr also have a small chance of advancing.

Biggest athletics team since Sydney 2000
The athletics team, the largest since the Sydney 2000 Games (12 athletes at the time), is led by Hudson, who is third in the rankings published by World Athletics for Paris with her record of 66.06m. Only world champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN/67.38 m) and the world's best athlete of the year Flor Denis Ruíz (COL/66.70 m) are ahead of Austria's European champion. Alongside Hudson, Weißhaidinger, Olympic bronze medallist at Tokyo 2021 and European Championship silver medallist at Rome 2024, is also among the red-white-red medal hopes with 69.04 m on the "Road to Paris". Gogl-Walli is 33rd in the 400m (50.87) and Mayer is 87th in the marathon (2:26:43). While this quartet was already set, the long-cherished Olympic dream has now come true for three more Austrian track and field athletes:

Markus Fuchs(Bild: Brockmann)

Markus Fuchs: a lock for the 100 m!
Fuchs qualified for the Olympic Games in 53rd place in the "Road to Paris" qualification ranking, which takes into account the average of the five best results in the period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. 56 sprinters are eligible to compete in the men's 100m in Paris. As the Lower Austrian was unable to improve his ranking at last Saturday's national championships in Linz due to illness, he dropped from 49th to 53rd place. But Paris is fixed for him - and he will certainly be fully fit again by the Games.

Raphael Pallitsch(Bild: amriphoto.com)

Raphael Pallitsch: A lock for the 1500 m!
Thanks to his sensational performances this season, Pallitsch was practically a lock for Paris in the 1500 m even before the end of the qualification period last Sunday. With his record runs in Rehlingen (3:33.78) and Ostrava (3:33.59) as well as his sensational sixth place at the European Championships in Rome (3:33.60), achieved in an unforgettable sprint over the last 100 m, he had secured his first Olympic participation. As things stand at present, he will travel to the Games as the 35th of 45 1500 m runners admitted.

Enzo Diessl(Bild: Brockmann)

Enzo Diessl: A fixture in the 110 m hurdles!
Diessl qualified for the Olympics in his very first season in the men's hurdles! A tremendous achievement for the 20-year-old, who was European U20 champion last year. In the "Road to Paris", the Styrian trained by Beate Hochleitner, who ran a strong 13.40 seconds over the 1.067 m hurdles at his first attempt this year, is in 38th place. 40 hurdles sprinters are eligible to compete at the Games in Paris.

Verena Mayr(Bild: PHOTO_PLOHE)

Verena Mayr: Hope is alive!
Heptathlete Mayr, eleventh at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was very unlucky. Up until the weekend, she was in 24th place on the "Road to Paris", which would have been just enough to qualify for Paris. However, Martha Araujo became Colombian champion last Sunday, the last day of the qualifying period, with 6329 points, pushing Verena Mayr down to 25th place. The Upper Austrian, who finished a great fifth in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow this year (4466 points) and became national champion in the heptathlon in Götzis (6196), can still hope. If one of the 24 qualified heptathletes cancels by Thursday (midnight), Mayr will move up into the field of participants in Paris.

Karin Strametz(Bild: Olaf Brockmann)

Karin Strametz: Hope is alive!
Strametz also had a sensational season this year! She ran all of her 15 best times (between 12.87 and 13.11) this season. With her 12.87 seconds, she only just missed out on the hurdles final at the European Championships in Rome, finishing tenth overall. But all her efforts and dedication were not enough to secure one of the only 40 starting places in the women's hurdles sprint. She finished 45th in the "Road to Paris", having been set back by a somewhat questionable performance at the African Championships and a change of nation which, although compliant with the rules, only took place just before the end of qualifying. However, the 28-year-old still has a very small chance of taking part in the Olympics in Paris. However, five hurdles sprinters ahead of her in the rankings would have to withdraw from the Games ...